Upper Ground Production
  • Home
  • About
  • Links
    • Film East
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • LetterBoxd
  • Home
  • About
  • Links
    • Film East
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • LetterBoxd
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

21/5/2017 0 Comments

My Favorite Films... Shame

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Shame
Directed by Steve McQueen
In a bizarre turn of events, the 21-year-old feminist blogger considers one of her favorite films to be a movie about a sex addict who uses women just for his pleasure and has incestuous feelings towards his sister... I know, it's bizarre. 

But there's something about Shame ​that continues to draw me back in. Every time I watch it I find something new and beautiful in it. The film stuns with gorgeous cinematography; it has an unconventional style to it, which, in a way, makes the film slightly easier to digest. The editing of the film, intertwined with its emotional score, really evokes a strange set of feelings within the viewer they probably didn't know they had. But I think what keeps me coming back to this film time and time again is the complexity of the characters. Abi Morgan and Steve McQueen have written such dynamic and raw characters that each time I watch this film I feel like I understand them a little more, but also a little less. 

Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan give tour de force performances in this film that are grossly underrated. Fassbender, in particular, conveys so much feeling and emotion in so little. His performance is heartbreaking, and he makes you feel sympathy for a character that would otherwise disgust you. He's so captivating and raw in this role that I think he is the only actor who could have done the character justice. Personally, I think this is one of Fassbender's greatest roles, and it is highly under appreciated in his filmography.

But I think what really draws me back to this film is the statement it makes. A signature of McQueen's films is social issues. The three films that McQueen has made have all been centered around a prominent social issue in society: nationality, justice, addiction, loneliness, racism. He doesn't make films for entertainment. He makes films to make a statement, to get a reaction from his audience, to make them see the world from an unpopular perspective. McQueen pushes the bounders of his films not to be vulgar or obscene, but to make an impact, to remind the audience that their world isn't the whole world. To me, this is what filmmaking should be about. Shame is bold and daring; it wasn't made to make money at the box office or to win the audience's favor (trust me, it did neither of those things). McQueen doesn't make films to be enjoyable; you're not supposed to enjoy his films. You are supposed to leave his films feeling something for the protagonist and his cause; you're meant to leave a McQueen film looking at the world differently. Shame, for me at least, achieved that goal. 

There is a lot more to Shame than the labels the media has unjustly given it. Yes, it may be a bit extreme, but that's McQueen's style. His films are bold and controversial. He's creating a conversation about the world we live in rather than just adding to the noise of insipid movies. And I respect him for that.  
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Click the images below to read each article

    Features

    Feasting on Females: Consuming the Female Body in Mimi Cave’s Fresh
    Marmalade and Masculinity: Combating Toxic Masculinity with Paddington Bear
    The Delicious World of Miyazaki: Subverting Western Food Standards in Studio Ghibli
    Ugly, Delicious and Political: Politicising Cultural Dishes
    Representing Oslovian Women, starring ‘The Worst Person in the World’
    Culinary Temptations: Italian Cuisine in Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Desire Trilogy’
    David Bowie is... The Englishman Who Fell to Earth
    Kris Marshall | Love, Actually
    ‘Choose a name; something simple’: Names and Identities in ‘Money Heist’
    The Sad Eyes of Punk: Subverting the Rock Star in Anton Corbijn's Control
    The Ghost of David Bowie: Capturing Bowie's Cultural Legacy in Todd Haynes' Velvet Goldmine
    Re-assimilating the Other: Zombies, Mental Illness and Homosexuality in BBC Three’s In the Flesh
    Global Strangers: Existing Between Borders Film Collection
    Animation Artistry in Cartoon Saloon’s Wolfwalkers
    Riz Ahmed’s Goodbye to Britain: Confronting Identity and Self in ‘The Long Goodbye’
    Young Film Programmers and the Pandemic
    The Hugh Grant Archetype: Stereotyping British Identity
    “America’s Sweetheart”: White Female Privilege In ‘Gone Girl’
    Why a David Bowie biopic will always be doomed to fail
    Film Oddity: David Bowie and the Screen
    "Did you feel emotional the first time you drove in Sacramento?" Driving with Emotion in Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird
    A [Not-so-Distant] Dystopian Future... The Dystopian Landscape of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner
    Politics, Class and the British Home: British Class Represented in High-Rise and Brazil
    The New New Wave of British Cinema: Joanna Hogg and the Middle-Class Social Realist Film
    “I’m Irish.” – Paul Mescal Vs The British Empire
    "Karen, are you crazy?" The Women of Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas
    Crafting Insanity: Experiencing madness in Sherlock: The Lying Detective
    The Modern Greek Tragedy: Examining Yorgos Lanthimos's The Killing of a Sacred Deer through Aristotle's Poetics
    "But Wales is Britain. And Britain is Wales." Exploring British national identity in Netflix's The Crown
    David Bowie is the Englishman from Mars: An Examination of Englishness through Stardom
    Supporting the Black Lives Matters movement through cinematic education
    “Maybe That’s Normal”: The Normality of Mental Illness in Normal People
    Dance, Woman, Dance: Revisiting Jim Henson's Labyrinth
    How Social Realism Contributes to the Fetishisation of Britain’s Working Class
    Slut! The Sexual Liberation of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Women
    Time, Illness And Melancholia
    Patrick Melrose And The Trauma Of The Aristocracy
    Is A Most Popular Film Category Good For The Oscars?

    Reviews

    Toronto International Film Festival '22 | Reviews
    BFI London Film Festival 2021 | Reviews
    BFI Flare Festival 2021 | Reviews
    Norwich Film Festival 2020 | Reviews
    Raindance Film Festival 2020 | Reviews
    London Film Festival 2020 | Reviews
    Lie Low | Review
    Review: Macbeth At The Norwich Theatre Royal
    Review: La Traviata At The Norwich Theatre Royal
    A Feminist Day Out At The BFI | Woman With A Movie Camera Summit 2018

    Interviews

    Red Carpet Interviews 
    Toronto International Film Festival 2022
    Interview with Bassam Tarqi
    ​London Film Festival 2020
    Picture
    Interview with Jonathan Blagrove
    Norwich Film Festival 2020
    Interview with Jamie Weston
    Norwich Film Festival 2020
    Picture
    Interview with Stuart Laws
    Grave New World Premiere 2021

    Film East Chats Podcast on BBC Radio Norfolk

    This is a small section of episodes from the Film East podcast. Click here to listen to all episodes. 

      Contact Me! 

    Submit
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.